Oakland Teachers, Officials Prepare for 2-Day Strike

Erin Hallissy, Chronicle East Bay Bureau

Published 4:00 am, Monday, November 27, 1995

Administrators and teachers in the Oakland Unified School District spent yesterday planning for a threatened two-day strike that could start tomorrow and blamed each other for a breakdown in negotiations.

While teachers, counselors, nurses and other members of the Oakland Education Association prepared picket signs for a strike, the district accepted applications from a small but steady stream of people applying for jobs as replacement teachers.

Negotiations broke down Saturday and the administration said it would welcome any new talks, but teachers said they had already heard enough.

"We've basically said to our members the strike is on," said Ward Rountree, executive director of the Oakland Education Association. "We expect that they will be on the picket line Tuesday morning. We are not going to participate in this public relations charade."

The two sides have been far apart for more than a year, and the latest negotiations ended without bringing them closer. Teachers have demanded a 10 percent, two- year raise and smaller class sizes, and the district, in its latest proposal, offered a 4.73 percent raise for the current school year, a modified cost-of-living adjustment next year and a promise to create a committee to study reducing class sizes in primary grades.

School board member Robert Spencer said the teachers have taken a hard line.

"The administration is willing to meet the teachers anytime, anywhere, but the teachers are unwilling to negotiate and plan to go out on strike as a result," Spencer said. "I can sum it up in one word -- it's tragic."

Oakland teachers, whose average salary is $38,727, say they're underpaid compared with other East Bay teachers. "Oakland teachers see very clearly that they can drive 20 minutes down the road and make more money," Rountree said.

Rountree called the proposal for a committee to study class size "a charade" that might result in no improvement for most grades. Teachers want smaller class sizes in all grades by mid-1997.

"We don't want another committee to study the issue of class size," he said. "Everybody understands that reduced class size is an important component of a quality education program. Teachers want more time to give more attention to their children."

Teachers have predicted that close to 80 percent of the 52,000 students in the district will not come to school on Tuesday and Wednesday if there is a strike.

School board member Jean Quan said she believes about one- third of students will come to class despite the strike. The district will not say how many substitutes it has hired at $180 a day but says it will have enough to provide classes and meals to students who show up at the district's 90 schools.

Spencer said that substitutes may not provide the same lessons as regular teachers but said parents should not worry about taking their children to school during the two-day strike.

"We have to provide a safe learning environment for kids no matter what work stoppages we face," Spencer said. "To parents that have the flexibility of either bringing or not bringing their kids to school, it's their own decision."